


Purr-haps it's Love

by Elphaba42



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Popstar, Camp Nanowrimo, M/M, also kuroo has a nose ring, kuroo is a jpop star, mute!character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-23 08:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3761068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elphaba42/pseuds/Elphaba42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenma Kozume is a mute. His mutism is often confused for deafness or even stubbornness and his family (minus his mother) are all far from supportive. They see him as a problem that should either be fixed or gotten rid of. His only escape is music and sometimes, if he tries hard enough and loses himself just right, he can imagine that it's not the lead singer making the sounds, but him.</p><p>His favourite band is the Kool Kats, and his favourite thing about it is the lead singer and his stupid hair and his cute face and his adorable voice and-</p><p>But Kenma swears, if you ask him, that the lead singer is an absolute tool and completely insufferable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Starstruck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, here we go! This fic is for Camp NaNoWriMo 2015, and I'm super far behind. I'm gonna try my best to type as often as possible, so wish me luck! My word goal is 10,000, so it should be 20 chapters, give or take! I hope you all enjoy, and thank you for reading! The chapters will be relatively short so please try to bear with me!
> 
> [Edit: I went through and corrected a few things on chapters one and two because I read through and WOWIE are there a lot of errors. Sorry about that. Also, I'm going to be adding onto this for NaNoWriMo 2015, so it'll be updated MUCH more frequently. Sorry I've been so bad about update schedules (which is to say, there hasn't been an update schedule so far) and thanks to everyone who has stuck around!! I really appreciate it!]

The music was loud. The bass thumped in Kenma’s ears and chest and he felt it all the way down to his fingertips. His face hurt from smiling so long and, though he was not screaming himself, his throat burned for all the other people’s shouts and singing along. His eyes hurt from the bright lights and his feet hurt from jumping up and down. The jostling was, at this point, nothing short of frustrating.

Suddenly, Kenma was being pushed. The ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing what was going on and the crown was acting like ocean waves, pushing, pushing to get him to the front and up onto the stage without any chance of escape.

”Alright, everyone! Make some noise for the last song of the night!” the lead singer of the band shouted into the crowd.

The crowd’s response rivaled that of a stadium filled with football fans the last minutes of a game with a tied score, decibel-wise.

“Alright, alright!” The lyricist whooped, a smile on his lips and evident in his voice. “We’ve got a fan here to help sing out last song, tonight! What’s your name, man?” He shoved the microphone into Kenma’s face and Kenma’s mouth opened and closed like that of a fish. To an outside viewer, it might just look like Kemna was star-struck, but he knew better. 

“A shy one, eh? Okay, everyone! Help him out! Sing along so this guy doesn’t have to do it himself!”

The music started and the singer pulled the microphone back to his face, but not before sparing Kenma a suggestive wink. 

Kenma’s face lit up like a firework and he covered his mouth with his hands, his face resembling that of a deer caught in headlights.

Kenma didn’t realize what song they were even singing because he was too busy staring at the lead singer. The look of absolute joy in the lyricist’s eyes was unrivaled by anything Kenma had ever seen. It made him genuinely happy to see someone enjoying themselves as much as the lead singer was. A soft smile found it’s way onto Kenma’s lips.

It was then that the lead singer looked over at Kemna and realized he wasn’t singing. Or even trying. He was just standing there with wide eyes. And Kenma realized that the lyricist was looking at him.

Kenma’s face caught fire once again and he covered his mouth, his eyes widening further. His fight-or-flight instinct kicked in and he dashed backstage.

He heard chaos from behind the curtain but his biggest concern at the moment was to get out of sight.

Kenma found a dark corner backstage and sat, curling into a ball and pushing himself as close to the wall as possible. He closed his eyes and leveled his breathing.

\---

Kenma hadn’t realized he had drifted off to sleep until someone was shaking him awake.

“Excuse, me, sir. You can’t be back here.” The security guard said. Then he stopped. And stared. And grabbed Kenma’s arm and pulled him up into a standing position.

“Kid, you’re gonna have to come with me.”


	2. The Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has already gotten so much attention and I only posted it a few days ago!!! Thank you all so much. You can find me on tumblr at elfie-42! (Sorry about not adding a link. i can't figure out how to get it to work) Thank you all SO MUCH for all the kudos!

The security guard walked Kenma down a dark hallway. The lights were dim and the air was smoky. It reminded Kenma of the low-rent apartments his mum and he had had to move to when his father left.

They quickly reached a door on the left side of the hallway. It was a dark oak colour, and the knob was a dull silver.

The guard knocked twice on the door and a voice from inside asked “Who is it?”

“Paul,” he called back. It suddenly seemed a lot quieter in the room.

“Come in.” the same voice called, followed by the sound of a lock turning. 

The guard looked over at Kenma with both pity and what looked like fear in his eyes. “Good luck, kid,” was all he said before opening the door and pushing Kenma forward into the room.

The first thing Kenma noticed was the smell. It was vastly different from the musty, dank smell of the hallway. The room smelled like sandalwood and oranges.

And then he noticed the people standing in the room. 

It was the Kool Kats.

The entire band.

Kenma’s mind went entirely blank. He forgot how to breathe, forgot how to speak (though not that he would've been able to speak if he remembered anyway), forgot how to move. 

“Well? Are you coming in or not?” The drummer, Bokuto, said. Kenma was pulled back down to Earth and, instead of just walking into the room and asking what and extremely famous band wanted with him, he just started babbling.

Kenma’s hands flew all over his range of motion at a mile a minute. At some points, he wasn’t even signing words. He was just passionately flinging his arms around, trying to make sense of the situation he was currently thrown into quite violently.

“Woah, kid. Settle down there,” the drummer chuckled. “No need to get starstruck. It’s just us.”

Kenma’s hands slowed. He took deep, laborious breaths in an effort to calm his racing heart.

_‘Right’_ Kenma signed _‘Sorry’_

“You’re all good, little man. I suppose you want to know why you’re here, huh?” Bokuto asked. 

_‘Yes, please’_ Kenma replied. 

“KURO!” He shouted, “THE ESCAPEE’S HERE TO SEE YOU!” 

There was a suspicious thumping sound behind the door opposite the one Kenma had entered from, followed by a crash. 

And then the door flew open. 

And there, in all his beadheaded glory, stood the lead singer of the Kool Kats, Kuro Tetsuro himself, with a mixture of puppy-like excitement and what appeared to be panic on his face. 

His beautiful, beautiful face. 

And his flawless hair. And his muscular arms. And- hngg- that nose ring of his that- 

And just like that, Kenma was babbling again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry (not sorry) about the cliff hanger! Please leave me comments about what you like/dislike or any spelling/grammatical errors or anything you find. I don't really have time to edit this, considering how far behind I am, so if you could help out in the editing process, that would be AMAZING!! Thank you all again s o m u c h for reading. I appreciate it a lot!


	3. The Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenma meets the Kool Kats and Kuroo makes a fool out of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahhahahahhhah... sorry. This chapter is a little late. Sorry about that. Though, it's November again, so I should be able to write this until it kills me. Expect 50,000 words by the end of the month. Thank you all for reading! As always, my tumblr is elfie-42 and my FictionPress is Elphaba42. Find my original short stories there! Good luck.

Kenma was floored, to say the least. What would a big-name pop star want with little-old-him? It wasn't like he had done anything to make him stand out!

 

Wait.

 

Yes he did.

 

He had completely humiliated himself onstage, had probably made a fool of the band, and had made certain that nothing good was going to come of this meeting.

 

Or so he thought.

 

Kuroo rushed over to Kenma, his hands outstretched and his hair a mess. It was pretty evident that he had been laying on his side. The side of his face was red and his hair was standing straight up. His eyes held a strange cacophony of fear and surprise and a million other emotions Kenma just couldn't place.

 

"Oh my god! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did we do something wrong? You just ran off in the middle of the song… Please say something," Kuroo trailed off.

 

 _Yeah, I'm fine._ Kenma signed. His fear had dissolved and the shock in Kuroo's eyes made Kenma shake with silent laughter.

 

"What." Kuroo responded. His look of worry had vanished and been replaced with blank shock.

 

A hooting laughter burst up from behind Kenma and Kuroo. It was loud and joyful, though mildly forced, as though it was for someone’s sake other than the one who laughed.

 

“The kid can’t talk, Kuroo. He’s mute.” The speaker then turned to Kenma and said, “That’s right, right? You’re mute.” It wasn’t a question.

 

Kenma nodded in response, shocked that someone had figured it out so quickly without having to be told. Of course, this was the guy who had been signing with Kenma before, so it was very probable that he knew someone who was mute or deaf or something already, before he met Kenma. It was still shocking to meet someone outside of the support groups his parents made him go to or internet chat rooms and (mostly) the deaf community, that could understand sign and actually fluently communicate and was obviously comfortable speaking and communicating as such.

 

“Oh. Shit. Well, that probably explains why you didn’t sing along when you were up on stage, huh?” Kuroo replied sheepishly.

 

 _Uh, yeah, not being able to sing sort of complicates things._ Kenma signed back.

 

“Bokuto, I have literally no idea what he’s saying. Could you translate or something, please?” Bokuto sighed at Kuroo’s request but obliged nonetheless, and translated what Kenma had signed into Japanese.

 

 _Hey, how do you know how to sign?_ Kenma asked. It had been bugging Kenma, but made him more than a little happy nonetheless.

 

 _I had always been interested in learning another language and at my school it was either English or sign language and because English is stupid, I chose sign language. Then, when I met Akaashi, I found a need for it, so I got practice. I had to become fluent pretty quickly to be able to communicate with him, so I did. I’m glad I am fluent, though, because it’s probably been the most useful skill I’ve had to learn, especially since Takeda takes care of the band’s financial stuff._ Bokuto said.

 

 _Umm… Am I supposed to know who any of those people are?_ Kenma asked, thrown off by all the sudden name drops.

 

 _Oh, sorry!_ Bokuto said. _Akaashi is my bo- friend. Akaashi is my friend. A-and Takeda is the band’s manager and financial advisor._ Bokuto’s hands were shaking when he signed all of the sudden and his face had turned a particularly violent shade of crimson.

 

“Uhhhh, guys? Nobody knows what you’re saying.” Someone else spoke up. It was only then that Kenma realized that there were people in the room other than Kuroo, Bokuto, and him. There was the bassist, Sawamura Daichi, and the lead guitarist, Shimizu Kiyoko. --Kiyoko had a small, blonde girl on her lap who looked very flustered about being there. The small girl reminded her infinitely of Shoyou, for whatever reason, and it made him feel just a little more safe about the whole situation.

 

 _Sorry. I just forget, sometimes._ Kenma signed again.

 

“Man, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. It’s not like you can communicate with us any-WAIT!” Bokuto suddenly shouted. “Yes there is!” Bokuto practically flew out of the room, apparently looking for some alternate form of communication for Kenma to be able to communicate to the whole room.

 

Everyone sat in silence for a while until they heard quick, smacking footsteps bounding down the hallway, something squealing in tow, and prepared themselves for the oncoming storm.

 

Bokuto burst into the room, dragging behind him a large whiteboard, probably nabbed from some office somewhere. No doubt that the  staff would come looking for it soon, but for the moment, Bokuto’s alternate-communication device seemed like something ingenious. He stood in front of it, his hands on his hips, and a proud look on his face.

 

“Oh ho ho? And where did you take this from, Bo?” Kuroo asked, a mischievous look on his face.

 

“Um… s-somewhere.” Bokuto stuttered out.

 

“Well, not that we’ve got something, we might as well try it out. Go ahead little man. We’re all listening.” Kuroo prodded

 

Kenma walked over to the board, dragging his feet. His writing skills weren’t much better than his people skills. That is to say, his writing skills practically didn’t exist. he could only communicate in chat rooms because everyone was as terrible a writer as he was, so it wasn’t odd for Kenma to misspell words or forget the occasional (or, actually, very frequent) period. However, in front of this group of people (read: world-renowned superstars), Bokuto’s handing him the bright red Dry-Erase marker felt like he was placing Kenma on a giant concrete slab for human sacrifice. The marker let out a horrible squeal on the very first stroke of the very first character, and Kenma cringed. It looked like it was only Kenma who was really affected by the situation’s similarity to a taut rubber band. Everyone else was just sitting there, staring (God, the staring was making him VERY uncomfortable.), waiting for him to finish his sentence.

 

Kenma finally squeaked out the final character, spelling out “Hi, I’m Kenma”, the ‘Kenma’ in crude lettering.

 

“Hi Kenma.” The room droned. Kenma would've snorted at the similarity between this situation and group therapy had it not been for the fact that the people he was standing in front of were mega pop stars and, well, he had humiliated them not an hour before.

 

Wait.

 

He came to this stupid concert with Shoyou. It had been an hour since the concert ended. Where was Shoyou now?

 

Kenma dropped the marker and started signing. _I need to find Shoyou. Where’s Shoyou?_

 

 _Who’s Shoyou?_ Bokuto signed back. Kenma was thankful that everyone else in the room understood the urgency of the situation (even if they didn’t actually know what the situation was.) and didn’t try to interrupt Bokuto and him.

 

 _He’s my friend. He’s who I came with. He’s gotta be worried about me right now. Please. I need to find Shoyou._ Kenma’s singing was getting increasingly more frantic at this point. Tears were welling up in his eyes and the back of his throat was hurting like he was going to start crying. Why did this happen? The concert tickets had been a surprise birthday present from Shoyou and he didn’t realize when he opened the envelope how much of a mess this was turning out to be.

 

Oh god, the tears were falling now. Kenma’s hands were shaking and all that was going through his mind was “Oh my god, I’ve lost Shoyou.”

 

Kenma knew that he was overreacting to the situation but, honestly, this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. This night had been a disaster from the moment he set foot on that stupid stage.

 

All of the sudden, there was a large hand on Kenma’s back, steadying him and making the panic just a little more distant.

  
“Hey. We’re going to find your friend, okay? It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.” Bokuto said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I don't feel nearly as guilty about this cliffhanger because I know for a fact that y'all will get another chapter soon. Thank you all for reading! If you have something to say, please PM me or comment or shoot me an ask on tumblr. Thanks for being great! Also, I apologise for the massive amounts of space. Once the story is a little bit less dialogue, it should be a bit lengthier.


	4. Let's Find Shoyou!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thanks everyone for reading! This chapter is pretty short because I found a good stopping point. The next one should be a little bit longer. Good luck!

Kenma was worried. Of course, that wasn't anything new. Kenma was always worried. But right now Kenma was searching for his AWOL best friend after being humiliated onstage.

 

They looked for Shoyou everywhere. They went out to the parking lot (actually, Kenma went out to the parking lot. The band members stayed inside for fear of being mobbed by hundreds of screaming fans.), the looked backstage, they looked in waiting rooms, they looked in conference rooms (Kenma went with Bokuto to look through the offices and he was strangely adamant about not going into a certain one. Kenma was pretty sure what he would find when he went into that one or, rather, what he wouldn't find.) and yet, somehow, Shoyou was nowhere to be found. Kenma was very much regretting his decision to leave his phone at home for the duration of the concert.

 

Finally, Kenma and the Kool Kats admitted defeat. Shoyou was absolutely nowhere to be found and, though everyone reassured him that Shoyou was most certainly at home right now, Kenma could still feel the panic rising up in his throat like bile.

 

\---

 

“Come on, Kageyama! Kenma wouldn't just run off on his own! And how is he supposed to find his way home? It's not like he has his phone or his wallet or anything that'll get him here. And the stadium is too far to walk! We have to go back and find him!” Hinata shouted at Kageyama. He knew he was overreacting but that didn't stop him from overreacting nonetheless. How was Kenma supposed to get home?

 

“Oh come on, Sho. He'll be fine.” Kageyama replied, more than a little peeved that Hinata was paying more attention to Kenma than him, his boyfriend.

 

“No he won’t! How's he supposed to get home!”

 

“He can just borrow someone’s phone and text you where he is so you can come pick him up.” Kageyama was getting frustrated at this point. Surely, Hinata was overreacting. Kenma would be fine.

 

“Right. And how do you expect Kenma to ask a stranger to borrow their phone? It's not like he can go up to them and just ask!” Hinata shouted, his hands on his hips and his chin pointed straight up at Kageyama’s face.

 

“Oh. Yeah.” Kageyama mumbled. It seemed as though the part of his brain that had been doing to speaking remembered that Kenma was mute but the part that was actually coming up with the words simply had not. “Look, So. He’ll be fine. You need to put more faith in Kenma. He’s been mute his whole life. I'm sure he knows how to deal with the situation. Just leave him be.” He said gently. He wasn't really sure whose benefit those gentle words were for. Yes, Kenma could handle himself, but Shoyou’s worry was rubbing off on him and he knew that Kenma probably didn't know how to handle the situation.

 

\---

 

Kenma didn't know how to handle the situation. Yes, he had been fine before when he was performing in the room with everyone else but now that he was standing outside the Kool Kats’ dressing room, trying to figure out what he needed to do, the panic was creeping in on him once again. The tears welled up in Kenma’s eyes and, this time, he did nothing to stop them. They just ran down the sides of this cheeks and he slid down the wall and rested his head between his knees. Kenma felt pathetic about the fact that he was crying about something as small as not being able to find Shoyou but the moment his lip began to wobble, the dam broke and everything that had happened to him today just came crashing down on him, hitting him full on in the face with shock and panic.

 

It was going to be okay. He could just go to one of the Kool Kats members and ask them to borrow their phone. It's not like they would judge him for it. Probably.

 

Yeah. That's what he’d do. He could go to one of the members and ask for their phone. But who would he ask? The bassist, Daichi was pretty scary and Kenma felt like, if he made him angry, he would become infinitely more scary. That definitely ruled out the guitarist, Kiyoko. Kiyoko was like mad Daichi times 100. He could ask Bokuto but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t have a phone. He just struck Kenma as the kind of guy that didn’t have a cell phone (or at least the kind of phone that could text, which was kind of important.)

 

That just left... Kuroo. Oh god, no. There was no way he was going up to Kuroo and asking him to borrow his cell phone. Not only would it be incredibly awkward, how was he supposed to communicate with him that he needed to use his phone? It’s not like the guy could sign. And he didn’t exactly strike him as the kind of person who was very… intelligent. Plus, Kenma had never been all that great at talking to pretty people.

 

Kenma was pretty much screwed.

 

‘Whatever. I’m just going to go ask him. The worst thing that could happen is that he’ll tell me no. It’ll be fine.’ Kenma thought.

 

Kenma heaved himself up off the floor and dragged his hand down his face. ‘It’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.’ He walked over to the door and moved to place his hand on the door handle when it swung open.

 

“Sure Kuroo! I’ll get the Blondie’s number! Right after I make out with Shimizu!” Bokuto shouted, followed by a hooting cackle. He then turned around and laid his eyes on the one and only Blondie.

 

“Oh.” Bokuto said.

 

 _I… I need a phone that can text. Could… I… Could I borrow one?_ Kenma signed carefully, focussing more on trying to keep his blush contained than anything else. It was probably the most difficult thing he’d done all day.

 

“Uhh… yeah. Sure,” Bokuto said hesitantly.

 

“Bo? Who’re you talking to?” Kuroo shouted from inside the room.

  
“Blondie.” Bokuto said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was not nearly as diolouge-heavy as the last ones, so let me know what you guys think. I'm trying out new styles. As always, you can tell me what you think via comments, PMs here, or messages on tumblr (elfie-42)! Thanks for reading.


	5. Go Home, Kenma!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters? In two days? And three in a week? Dang son. Somebody call an exorcist because I've clearly been possessed by something. Actually, wait until November is over. I want to finish NaNoWriMo. Then you can exorcise me. As always, thank you to everyone for reading and enjoying enough to stick around. I do my best to write quality stuff, but I really don't have time for editing, so if y'all could point out grammatical/spelling errors, that'd be fantastic. It's a super fix and it's not rude, I promise. Thank you and enjoy!

 

Kuroo walked to the doorway. When he laid eyes on Kenma, his face morphed into a painting of shock. “Oh. It’s you.” He said slowly.

 

 _Yup. It’s me._ Kenma signed sarcastically. _Could I borrow your phone, please?_

 

“Kenma, sorry, but I still don’t know what you’re saying. Could you…?” Kuroo asked.

 

Kenma thought for a second and then stuck out his thumb and pinky in the universal symbol for phone. Kuroo seemed to get it, and he pulled out his cell phone. It was handed over to Kenma, and he took it gingerly. It was a new model, a smartphone, with no case. It made Kenma nervous just looking at people with expensive phones without cases, but having it in his hands and having it suddenly be his responsibility increased his anxiety tenfold.

 

He sent Shoyou a quick text that just said where he was and to come pick him up. He hoped Shoyou actually would. He was often pretty paranoid about unknown numbers, and the fact that he was still in the convention centre probably didn’t help to convince Shoyou that this wasn’t a “trap”.

 

The phone dinged and Kenma nearly dropped it out of shock.

 

**FROM: Unknown Number (16:58)**

u gotta send me a pic b4 i believe its u.

 

‘Of course.’ Kenma thought. ‘Of course he wants a picture. It’s a good thing I don’t know how to take a picture and I can’t ask the phone’s owner how. Great.’ Kenma wasn’t entirely comfortable searching through Kuroo’s phone for the camera app, but he was less comfortable having an awkward gesture conversation, so searching through the pop star’s phone it was.

 

It didn’t take much searching to find it and, with nervous movements, Kenma opened it, well aware of how compromising a situation he was putting himself. It would be very difficult to explain to Kuroo why he was going through his phone if he were to be discovered.

 

Kenma snapped a quick photo and sent it away to Shoyou. He hoped it would be proof enough.

 

“What’cha doin’, Kenma?” Bokuto screeched out behind him. Kenma actually did drop the phone this time, but, thankfully, it didn’t break.

 

 _Hey!_ Kenma signed. _That was Kuroo’s phone! What would you have done if it had gotten broken?_

 

 _Oh, crap, sorry._ Bokuto signed back. _I thought you knew I was back here. I was in your selfie, you know._

 

‘What?’ Kenma thought. ‘My… Oh no.’

 

Bokuto had been in his selfie. The selfie he had sent to Shoyou. The drummer of the Kool Kats had been in the selfie Kenma had sent to Shoyou, the Kool Kats’ biggest fan.

 

**FROM: Unknown Number (17:02)**

OMG IS THAT BOKUTO OMG KENMA OMG

 

Yeah, that was pretty much the reaction that Kenma expected.

 

**FROM: Unknown Number (17:03)**

KENMA

 

**FROM: Unknown Number (17:03)**

KENMA

 

**FROM: Unknown Number (17:03)**

KENMA WILL YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE ME

 

Great. So not only was Kenma completely exhausted from the day’s events, now he was probably going to have to stay at the stadium for at least another hour while Shoyou freaked out over the Kool Kats, making them entirely uncomfortable in addition to Kenma.

 

This was a mess.

 

\---

 

About an hour later, Shoyou was at the backstage door of the stadium, knocking wildly. Every so often, the knocks would stop and there would be muffled shouting coming from the other side, which led Kenma to believe that at least Kageyama was there with him, hopefully to keep him subdued.

 

Eventually, Daichi heaved himself up from off the couch and walked over to the door, his face passive but his eyes frustrated. He heaved open the metal door and in came the whirlwind that was Shoyou. It was very obvious that his primary goal was finding and securing Kenma. His eyes scanned the room, barely even registering the fact that his all-time favourite band was scattered inside of it, and fell onto Kenma. Kenma could see the exact moment he saw him because his eyes lit up the moment they landed on Kenma.

 

“Kenma!” Shoyou shouted, running over to him. Kageyama was still standing over by the door and looking incredibly uncomfortable. _Are you okay?_ Shoyou signed aggressively.

 

_Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for coming to pick me up. Did you get here alright?_

 

 _Yeah. There wasn’t nearly as much traffic as I had expected. Although, I guess that’s what happens when you’re driving in the middle of the night, huh?_   Shoyou was joking, but his eyes held very obvious concern.

 

 _I’m sorry about that. I wish none of this had ever happened._ Kenma signed. He was regretful, truly. He had inconvenienced everyone here. The band had to stay after the concert with him to make sure he got home safe, Shoyou had to waste gas on him when he drove back, everyone at the concert probably didn’t get to enjoy the last song of the night. Today was a mess.

 

“Hey hey hey everyone! Enough negativity! Let’s just talk! I’m excited to meet Blondie’s old friends, seeing as how we’re now Blondie’s new friends!” Bokuto burst into Kenma and Shoyou’s conversation, thankfully, and made everyone feel just a little bit better.

 

“Alright then!” Shoyou cawed, “I’m Hinata Shoyou! The awkward giant standing over by the door is Kageyama Tobio. In case you guys didn’t get it before, ‘Blondie’’s name is Kozume Kenma. Thank you for taking care of him!” Shoyou finished with a deep bow.

 

“You probably know everyone here already, but I’m Bokuto Kotarou, drummer for the Kool Kats. This is Kuroo Tetsurou, lyricist and songwriter. This is Sawamura Daichi, our dad-” Bokuto was cut off by an angry glare from Daichi, “Our bassist, Shimizu Kiyoko, the guitarist, and Shimizu’s friend, Hitoka Yachi.”

 

Yachi squeaked and buried her face into Shimizu’s chest, leading Kenma to believe that “friends” probably wasn’t the right word to describe her and Shimizu’s relationship.

 

“Hey.” Kageyama grunted. “I hate to ruin everyone’s fun, but I have class at 8:00 tomorrow and Hinata is kind of my ride home, so if we could wrap this up quickly, that would be great.”

 

Hinata turned around to face the other people in the room. “Kags is probably right. I hope we can all hang out again! See you all later!” He squaked. He signed a quick come on to Kenma, and soon they were all headed out the door.

 

Kenma tried to start forward but was stopped by a hand on his wrist.

 

“Hey, I sort of ruined your night. Do you mind if I make it up to you?” Kuroo said to him, holding out his phone with the hand that wasn’t clinging onto Kenma’s wrist. Kenma nodded hesitantly and took the phone. He entered his name and number into the blanks and chose the photo he had taken to send to Shoyou earlier to be his contact photo. Kenma handed the phone back to a grinning Kuroo and walked out the door with Shoyou and Kageyama.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wonder what Kuroo is going to do to make it up to Kenma? ;) (Hint: they may or may not hang out on the top of a ferris wheel) Thank you all for reading and please tell me what you think! Have a great rest of your day! Also, please let me know how well the text messaging reads. It's going to be a pretty significant part of the story later on, so I want to make sure everyone can read it pretty easily!


	6. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some stuff happened and now more stuff is happening. :O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahahahahaaaahhhhahhahahahhah remember that one time when I uploaded two chapters in two days? Haha yeah those were the glory days lol. Sorry. Also 100 KUDOS? OMG GUYS THANK YOU SO MUCH. Like this isn't my best work and I'm such a terrible updater and still 100 of you guys thought that this was decent enough to give Kudos. i love you guys all so much. Honestly, you all mean the world to me. Especially those of you who comment! If you comment I WILL be your friend. That's what happens. Anyways, enough rambling. Tl;dr I love all of you guys and I'm sorry that I am apparently incapable of sticking to a schedule.

Kenma slept on the drive back to the apartment. The day had been exhausting and it seemed like it would be a lot easier to just forget it even happened.

 

And easier it was. He woke up when Kageyama pulled into the apartment parking lot, his muscles tense and his neck aching from being bent at such an odd angle. Kenma rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched outside the car before reaching into the passenger side to wake Shouyou. Kageyama and Shouyou were ignoring the elephant in the room, obviously for Kenma’s sake, and it was working quite well. They knew they would have to bring it up eventually but pretended nonetheless.

 

“Kenma. Are you okay?” Shoyou said.

 

Kenma nodded lazily. He was practically falling asleep in Kageyama’s arms. They walked together as one unit to the front door, Kageyama trying to balance Kenma and the keys will little success before handing the keys off to Shoyou.

 

The door crawled open, creaking all the way. The light flickered on and Shoyou sighed at the sight of their very downtrodden apartment. At least it smelled better than the hallway.

 

He lit the little collection of candles on the dining room table and flipped the light switch back off while Kageyama tapped his slippered feet down the hall to Kenma’s room. Shoyou heard the bed creak as Kenma was set down, the door bump the doorframe (though it didn't click. That stupid door never latched), and Kageyama once again tap his way back down the faux-wood hallway.

 

“Is he alright?” Shoyou asked.

 

“Yeah. He's asleep now. All those people probably wiped him out. He should stay like that for at least a few hours.” Kageyama said before leaning down and meeting Shoyou halfway for a quick peck on the cheek.

 

“Thank you. I know you don't know him that well, but it means a lot.” Shoyou climbed Kageyama like the tree in the park that was particularly good at catching and holding ill-received volleyballs and hung there before Kageyama shifted him around to hold him like a princess.

 

Kageyama carried him over to their worn-out sofa. It was the most obnoxious shade of banana yellow but Kageyama had insisted because, “It reminded me of y-,” a cough, “It reminded me of the sun.” Thus, the banana yellow couch became a permanent resident in the young men’s “Halfway House for the Woebegone” (dubbed so by Nishinoya, though everyone had been mostly surprised that Nishinoya’s vocabulary contained a word like woebegone). It was an appropriate word, however, and it, like the banana yellow sofa, remained.

 

There was then an insistent pattering down the hallway before Kenma slid to a stop in front of the tangled mess of limbs that was Kageyama and Shoyou.

 

_ Sorry.  _ He signed.  _ I'm really sorry for everything. Forgive me? _

 

Shoyou chuckled, “Of course. There's not even anything to apologise for. Now sit down. We were getting ready to turn on the new episode of that one anime you liked. Hush.” Hinata added when Kenma held up his hands to protest.

 

The boys all fell asleep on the couch, a messy pile of pale limbs that could barely be told from one another (minus Hinata’s, which were thin, short, and adorned with ginger fluff that was far easier to distinguish.) They were all sure to be sore and have countless kinks in every joint in their body come morning but not a single one of them cared. For now they were happy.

 

\---

  
Morning came all too soon, however, and with it came the wild symphony of sounds from all the people and cars rushing to get to where they needed to be. There was a silver-haired man helping a lady who was considerably older and yet sported the same shade of grey cross the street, a tiny blonde rushing across the much larger pedestrian crossing to get the donuts her girlfriend loved so much before they all sold out. There was a beautiful man laying in someone’s bed next to a sleeping stranger trying to find the willpower to get up and leave before she woke up and things got awkward. People were going about their daily lives, making decisions, preparing for massive events they didn’t know were coming. Everything was going as normal except for one boy. He was short, his hair colour two, and his voice so small it literally did not exist. He too woke up and began to do the things he normally did, slightly more aware than others that his life was about to change pretty spectacularly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. It really means a lot. OH and before I forget, I got a laptop for Christmas so I think I'm going to make it a priority that I'll write for 10-15 minutes a day. Hopefully that'll motivate me a bit more and let me cling on to my muse for dear life. Also sorry for the short chapter. I've been trying to get the chapters longer but this one's ending was really clean and smooth and also I'm really proud of that poetic af last paragraph. You WILL see a new chapter by this time next week. I swear by it. As always, my tumblr is elfie-42. Hmu if you're volleyboy garbage. if you comment I'll really really really really Laikyuu!!


	7. It's Too Early

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo is nervous and also apparently likes to call at the asscrack of dawn to wake everybody up. Thanks Kuroo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK SO. I know this chapter is late. It's, like, three weeks, to be exact. And I know I told you that they would be every other week so I'm less late than I could be? I don't know. Anyways, I'm gonna make another promise so here goes: I will update every week by the end of Monday. We'll see if I can keep myself to it. This chapter is more buildup to the next one than anything else (which I'm so excited for, tbh) so not much happened. Please kudos or comment if you enjoyed or want to yell at me for being late. I deserve it, tbh.

The phone’s ringing was what up woke the pile of boys. They were all stiff from a night spent on the hard yellow couch tangled up with one another and yet none of them seemed to regret it.

 

Kenma blearily reached for Shoyou’s phone on the coffee table. The old model had only two functions and one ringtone, jarring and loud and incredibly unpleasant to wake up to. He squinted at the screen and heaved a silent sigh when he saw it was an unknown number. Kenma was expecting a cheery telemarketer’s spiel about how he should buy their product or complete their survey. What he wasn’t prepared for, however, was a man’s voice, husky from what Kenma assumed was sleep, considering the late hour in which he had called.

 

“Is Blondie there?” The voice asked.

 

Kenma’s eyes widened with shock and realization. The voice belonged to none other than the lead singer of his favourite band.

 

“Hello?” Kuroo asked, “ Is anybody there? I’m looking for Blondie.”

 

Kenma was panicking. Kuroo had found the blond he was looking for but, unfortunately, that blond could not tell him as such. Kuroo continued to speak into the receiver while Kenma frantically shook Shoyou awake.

 

“Look, I get that this is awkward if I got the wrong number but can you please tell me so that I can just hang up?”

 

“Hinata Shoyou speaking,” Shoyou said back. Kenma breathed a sigh of relief when the phone was in a speaking person’s hand instead of his, but quickly tensed back up when he remembered just who Shoyou was talking to. Kenma was glad for Shoyou’s apparent incapability of having things at a sensible volume as Kenma could hear Kuroo’s voice through the receiver loud and clear.

 

“Oh! You’re Blondie’s friend! Could you put him on please?”

 

“Umm… I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible.”

 

“Oh god please tell me he’s okay! He wasn’t hurt last night or anything? I was actually calling to apologise because I really screwed up last night and I really wanted to make it up to him so could you please-” Kuroo was cut off from his babbling by breathy laughter from Shoyou. He had tried desperately to contain it until Kuroo had finished his spiel but it was just too funny.

 

“N- no. I mean I’m literally not going to be able to put him on. Kenma can’t talk on the phone. Not now, not ever.”

 

“What do you- OH MY GOD!” Kuroo shouted suddenly.

 

“You finally remembered, then?” Shoyou said, struggling to speak through his guffawing at Kuroo’s plight.

 

“BLONDIE’S MUTE!” There was a much quieter shout away from the receiver, “BO HE’S MUTE WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!” Someone, probably Bokuto, hooted loudly and there was a thumping sound that signified a switching of owners.

 

“Yo Shrimpy! Tell Kenma I said hi.”

 

Kenma waved at the phone and Shoyou said, “Kenma says hello back.”

 

The phone made another sound and Kuroo’s gruff voice grated back through the receiver. “Alright. Well, I need to talk to Blo- Kenma,” Kuroo paused to collect his thoughts, “I need to talk to Kenma so if you could help me out that would be great.”

 

“Well-” Shoyou coughed, “Kenma can hear everything you’re saying so I can just tell you what he says in return? Would that work?” He was speaking more to Kenma then he was to Kuroo and Kenma nodded, glad there was a middleman in the whole exchange. In the time it had taken to get the phone to Hinata, Kageyama had untangled himself from the mass of boys and padded into the kitchen, starting up the stove to fry a few eggs for breakfast before he had to head off to work.

 

“Okay. Okay, that sounds great.” Kuroo said, failing to mask the nervous quiver of his voice. The fact that someone so suave and cool was acting so… not suave or cool made Kenma shake with equally ill-contained laughter.

 

“Okay.” Hinata replied, mocking Kuroo’s repetitive use of the word. “So why did you call?”

 

“Oh! Right! So, I really screwed up last night, getting Kenma to go up onstage and pretty much humiliating him in front of thousands of my fans and kind of ruining the concert there at the end for everyone who bought tickets and then I humiliating him again in front of the rest of the band was probably not one of my highest points and I would just like to apologise. I know it’s not really compensation but I was wondering if Kenma would be okay with me taking him out somewhere to apologise? I was thinking maybe the new amusement park they just opened because I could speak to the owner about getting a reservation for the whole park. He and I are pretty good friends and I should be able to arrange that so if you want to go, Kenma, then we can definitely set up a time or if you don’t want to go to the amusement park we can go somewhere else like maybe the park or maybe, I don’t know, the zoo. It’s really your call, since we’ve already established that I don’t make the best decisions.” Kuroo rattled off at top speed like he was giving a timed speech and he didn’t want to be interrupted. Unfortunately, this rapid-fire relaying of information had no breaks in which Shoyou could tell Kuroo that yes, the amusement park adventure would be fine, no, Kuroo shouldn’t make any sort of special arrangements to empty the park beforehand, that wouldn’t be necessary, and Kenma accepted Kuroo’s (poorly- executed) apology. All this information was relayed when Kuroo finally ran out of breath.

 

“Great! Okay, so do you want me to text you the time and the place? I mean, do you want me to text the time and place to Kenma?” Kuroo was quick to correct himself.

 

“Ah. yes. I’ll text you his number after we end this call. By the way, I will be bringing myself and my boyfriend to act as translators, as you obviously don’t speak a lick of sign language and Kenma… well, Kenma can’t speak. Period. So we’ll come along as well.”

 

“Oh, I already have his number. Thank you, though. Well, I’ll see you on Saturday, I guess. Unless time that doesn’t work out, of course. Then I guess I’ll see you on whatever day we pick out,” Kuroo let out an awkward chuckle, “Yeah. See you then, Hinata-kun. Thanks, I guess.”

 

“You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to it.”

  
Shoyou hung up the phone and faceplanted into the obnoxiously sunshine-yellow couch. _He’ll text you later._ He signed towards Kenma before falling back into a much-deserved sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways, like I said; filler. Amusement Park, pt 1 will be out by the end of Monday, so look forward to it. Anyways, update on me! My last performance for our school play was today (D: but also :D), so I'm going to have a lot more free time. I'm also super into Hamilton right now, so I've been reading gay founding father fanfic. Y'know, the usual stuff. The school year's end is quickly approaching and so is the end of my days as a middle schooler (AHHHH I DON'T WANT TO BE OLD). I'm also working on a big Iwaoi songfic thing and it's going to be incredible so be on the lookout for that. It'll be called 'Cheer Up!'. Thank you all so much for reading and for 1,500 hits (when did that happen????). If you enjoyed or want to see more, please leave a kudos or, if you love me, a comment. I guarantee that any comment you leave will fuel my writing, even if it's just a :).


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